Rewind 2012: Restaurant owner 'shocked' during trip to see Syrian family

Former restaurant owner glad to be home

8:34 AM,
Dec. 31, 2012

Riad Matar

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Even without entering his war-torn native country of Syria, Riad Matar's trip abroad to see family was still defined by the violence there.

"This is my first time in my life I get shocked like that," he said in a phone interview earlier this month.

In August, the News-Leader reported that Matar was planning to close his Springfield restaurant, Riad, to travel to Syria to see his immediate family. It would have been his first time visiting the country in three decades. ...